Serving trays are widely known and commonly used. The usual tray sits flat against a surface, has a planar carrying surface and some sort of graspable edge, or handles. It is often necessary to use two hands to lift and set down the tray, particularly when the tray is loaded with objects. Heavy trays are difficult enough to manage with two hands, let alone with a single hand. Even skilled servers require two hands to lift and set down such trays. Furthermore, trying to carry these trays with one hand requires a great deal of skill.
A number of trays in the art have made various attempts to improve the design of serving trays, in order to facilitate their carrying.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,438, U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,495, NL1010697C. and GB2266447 all offer serving trays that provide improved grips that facilitate balancing the trays. Nevertheless, none of these responses provides a solution for lifting and setting down the trays with a single hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,398 and WO2004004520 both present snack trays that are easy to carry in one hand. However, the designs require that the thumb be inserted into a hole that restricts movement. This may force users to hold the tray in an unnatural or uncomfortable position. Furthermore, the indentations and cutouts in the planar area severely restrict the usable carrying surface, thereby limiting the usefulness of such trays.
EP1438915 relates to a serving tray with a handle protruding upwards from the middle of the tray, enabling the tray to be carried with one hand. However, the central placement of the handle interferes with and restricts the usable surface area of the tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,286 discloses a serving tray having an opening through which the server's hand is inserted, allowing the server to lift and carry the tray with one hand. In spite of this, such a tray may be difficult to balance because the tray's gripping point is not aligned with the tray's center of gravity. Additionally, once the hand is inserted into the opening, it will be difficult for the server to reposition the tray or switch the tray to the other hand.
There is clearly a need for a new serving tray that can easily, comfortably, and naturally be lifted, carried, and set down with a single hand, even when the tray is fully loaded white leaving the second hand free to perform another task, and which additionally has a large carrying surface. It would be further useful if said tray were stackable for compact storage and of a simple, ergonomic, and inexpensive design.